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2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

FIFA World Cup is the easy way to qualify

The World Cup is more than an event that happens every four years.
It’s a long road of qualifying matches a full two years before the first
whistle blows on the world’s greatest tournament. It’s a process of
coaches accessing their roster and dealing with untimely injuries and
dips in form. It’s promising youngsters earning their first caps and
veterans being recalled from overseas clubs for important qualifying
matches. There’s a whole tale of tragedy and triumph just in the
qualification process, and in this respect it’s indeed worthy of its own
video game treatment. The problem is that 2010 FIFA World Cup South
Africa doesn’t do the whole journey justice.

Unlike past World Cup games by EA, this game attempts to flesh out
the entire qualifying schedule. Notice how I said “schedule” and not
“process.” You’ll go through a full calendar of games leading up to
South Africa, but what the game doesn’t include are important elements
such as being able to schedule other world tournaments along the way. I
don’t expect EA to go and get the license to the Confederation’s Cup,
but it would be cool to be able to book that kind of tourney to get my
players some needed seasoning.

I also feel that this game could further explore your roster
decisions as a coach. It does include a separate Captain Your Country
mode, which is like Be a Pro from previous FIFAs, except you have to
work your way up the roster ranks to earn the captain’s armband.
However, I don’t like that the camera is pulled out (unlike previous Be a
Pro modes) because it lessens the immediacy. And because it’s a totally
separate mode, it isn’t integrated into your core career.

I think it would be great if this game let you find undiscovered gems
in the lower part of your national squad roster. Or had you deal with
domestic coaches in order to get the services of star players when they
are conflicted between the need to help their country or their club
during crucial stretches. These are the kinds of concerns that national
teams have to deal with, not to mention finding and hiring the right
coach in the first place. But this game does not address such aspects.

2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa does try to give you a World Cup
experience, however. Beyond the Captain Your Country mode I already
mentioned, there are little touches such as fan cutscenes during the
tournament and a new penalty taking system that ups the nerves and skill
needed to bang home such an important opportunity.

The online mode is also worth noting because it does more than have
you face off against other players around the globe in a mock World Cup.
You can certainly play that way if you want (or in a more traditional
league setup with the countries of the world), but more interesting is
the Battle of Nations. This has you pick a country to represent, and
every online game you play – no matter which country you play with –
garners points for the nation you’ve initially chosen to represent.
Everyone playing online is adding to each country’s pot, so in the end
you get to see which one and its supporters are best.

Underneath all of this, of course, is the high benchmark of gameplay
that the FIFA series achieved this past year. There are even some
improvements from the game that EA released last October, although I
mainly noticed that defenders will wisely not bother to trap the ball
before clearing it from in front of their own goal.

There’s no doubt that World Cup 2010 delivers a great performance on
the pitch, but this game fails to give you the full qualifying
experience elsewhere. Thus, it doesn’t really tell the full tale of the
World Cup. The different online options and new penalty taking system
are welcome, but aren’t enough to let this title stand on its own two
feet.

The new penalty taking system features a moving needle which
you have to align with a sweet spot. How big it is depends on the skill
of the player taking the penalty

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User Reviews:

When I first bought this used game for $30 as my first 360 soccer game, I thought it was amazing, because the only soccer game I ever owned was PES 2003 in its Japanese version which I didnt even understand, for Wii which sucks with soccer games. After playing FIFA 2012 at my friend's house and then...